Apparatus for shaping and compressing sheets of asbestos cement into particles of complex configuration



July 30, 1963 G. MARcHloLl ETAL 3,099,061

' APPARATUS Fo HAPING AND coMPREssING SHEETS 0F ASBESTOS CE T oPARTICLES 0F COMPLEX CONFIGURATION Filed July 6, 196 5 SheetsfShee'blJuly 3o, 1963 G. MARCHIOU ETAL 3,099,061

APPARATUS F'OR SHAPING AND COMPRESSING SHEETS 0F ASBESTOS CEMENT INT0PARTIcLEs oF COMPLEX CONFIGURATION Filed July e, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2July' 30, 1963 G. MARcHloLl ETAL 3,099,061 APPARATUS FOR SHAPING ANDCOMPRESSING SHEETS OF ASBESTOS CEMENT INTO PARTICLES OF COMPLEXCONFIGURATION Filed July 6, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent OAPPARATUS FR SHAPING AND CMPRESSENG SHEETS F ASBESTGS CEMENT D110 PARTI-CLES 0F CMPLEX CONFHGURATN Giorgio Marchioli, Via G. B. Morgagni 22, andGiuseppe Gremigni, Via Lomellina 52, both of Milan, italy Filed July 6,1961, Ser. No. 122,158 6 Claims. (Cl. 25-43) The present inventionrelates to apparatus for shaping and compressing sheets of plasticmaterial, particularly asbestos cement.

As is known, some rooting tiles or covering members with somewhatcomplicated shapes, such as, for example, tiles for roof ridges, aremade by hand starting with plastic material consisting of a mixture ofcement and asbestos in leaf or sheet `form (which is obtained by causinga fluid mixture of asbestos cement and water contained in a tank, to bedeposited on and adhere to a rotating drum which dips into said tank),which is made to dry between shaped moulds. After more or less dryingout between the moulds, the sheet assumes the shape of the moulds.

However, pieces lobtained 'by this process, -besides being costly onaccount of the great length of time required for their manufacture, arenot satisfactory because of their uneven thickness, consistency andmoisture content, some of the tiles being too hard and others toofragile.

By using the apparatus according to the present invention, these andother drawbacks may be overcome. In accordance with the invention, thesheet of asbestos cement is placed while in the plastic state, on arigid, contoured part of a mould, a piece of elastically yieldingmaterial forming a lower part of the mould and having a lower surfacematching that of the upper face of the moulded sheet and a flat uppersurface is placed over said sheet, and the whole is introduced into apress by sliding it in a direction parallel to the llat upper surface ofthe piece of elastically yielding material.

The preferred apparatus according to the present invention has the pressthereof, in the form of a rigid tubular housing having end walls withopenings therein through which the mould on a slide can be introduced,and an inflatable body inside said tubular housing, which is adapted topress one part of the mould against the other part.

The apparatus according to the invention permits complicated memberssuch as tiles for roof ridges to be produced rapidly and almostcontinuously; it is hence with reference to asbestos cement roof ridgetiles that the invention will now be more fully described, purely anillustrative example and without limiting the invention thereto.

These ridge tiles have a somewhat complicated shape on account of theseveral diiferent curvatures of their surfaces which, by departing froma geometrically cylindrical contour, make it impossible to slide theridge tiles out of their moulds.

The present description makes reference to the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a roof ridge tile of a usual type;

EGS. 2a and 2b are a schematic View of the apparatus according to thepresent invention in a longitudinal section along the line ll-Il of FIG.3, and

FIG. 3 shows the apparatus in a vertical cross section along the linelll-lll of FIG. 2a.

,With reference to the drawings, the apparatus according to theinvention comprises a base 1 which supports a tubular body or housing 2-provided with end walls 2-2 and with a horizontal plane support ortable 3 whereon a slide 4, whose length is at least twice that of thetubular body 2, is free to run horizontally. Slide 4 is displacedaxially in relation to body 2 by the stem 5 of -a piston housed in acylinder 6 and driven by a fluid under pressure,

lThe length of base 1 available for travel of slide 4 thereon is equalto atleast three times the length of housing 2 which occupies the middlethird of said travel, so that when slide 4 is in its extreme positions,one half thereof is situated inside body or housing 2 and the other halfoutside said body on one or the other side thereof.

A pair of metal moulds 7 with two lower parts or sections 8 and S eachof slightly shorter length than onehalf the length of slide 4, ismounted on slide 4, said sections being included between and divided byblocks 9. Each of the mould sections 8 and S has a curved portion 10corresponding to the longitudinal curved profile 16 of the ridge memberC, and a set of lateral undulations 11 and 12 extending transverselywith respect to proiile 10 and corresponding to the lateral undulations11 and 12 of memberC. Undulations 11 and 12 are supported by verticalposts 13 resting on slide 4; the flat support table 3 is also providedwith vertical posts 3 which are drilled at their bottoms at 3". Mouldsections 8, 8', slide 4 and support 3 also have a plurality of holes 14,15 and 16 respectively.

The presence of a double mould on slide 4, that is of two mould sectionsand 8', allows the sheet or leaf inside body 2 to be moulded andcompressed on one of said sections, either 8 or 8', while a lsheet 17 ofasbestos cement material is being simultaneously prepared for mouldingon the other of said sections. Preferably, a sheet of line screen ormesh 17 pressed to the shape of each mould part or section 8 and 8 islaid on the latter prior to placing the sheet 17 of asbesto-s cementthereon.

ln accordance with this invention, each mould further includes an upperpart formed by a piece 18 of elastically yielding material, such asnatural or synthetic rubber, and which is placed over undulations '11and 12. Each upper lmould part 16 has its bottom side 18 corrugated tomatch mould part 8 or 8', while its upper side 1S is flat andsubstantially horizontal.

ln the upper part of tubular body 2 there is iixed a support 19 fittedwith end walls 19', and below -it and joined integrally thereto is aninflatable body 2l) which is also of elastically yielding material yandis provided with a central chamber 21 into which, by means of aliquid-tight conduit 22, a iluid under pressure supplied from aconvenient source can he introduced. Body 20 can in this manner beinated so as to press sheet 17 directly on the part thereof which liesabove profile 10 of mould 7, and indirectly, through upper mould part18, on the part lying above profiles lil-12.

As may be seen from the drawing (FIG. 3), the inflatable body Ztl has,corresponding to part 1li of mould part or .section 8 or 8', a recess20', while it is flat above piece 18 at 2li and also at 20". lt isapparent, however, that piece 18 could cover the whole of the top ofpiece C which has to be moulded, instead of, as in FIG. 3, reaching onlyto the height corresponding roughly to the broken line 23 (see FIG. l);and in this case, the inflatable piece 20 would also be ilat and theZones Ztl and 20" would merge into a single flat surface.

It is manifest from FIG. 3 that the inilatable body is -retained at itse-nds by the end walls 19 of support 19, and there is thus no axialdilation of lbody 20; further, the vertical distance separating endwalls 2 and blocks 9, which allows free axial movement to the mould 7,is very small, and hence the material composing the body 20 cannot beextruded through this clearance.

By reason of the combination of moulds each having Va rigid lower part 8or S and an elastic upper part 1S with the inflatable body Ztl, thepressure exerted o-n the sheet 17, although it is forceful andsufficient to squeeze Iout perfectly the water from said sheet (whichwater passes through holes 14, 15, 16, and is discharged through 3), yetadjusts itself to any small variations in the hardness of sheet 17,giving a 'linished product of completely uniform thickness andcompactness, and this is achieved, thanks to the provision of the doublemould '7, in a rapid, and hence economical, and almost continuousmanner.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for shaping and compressing sheets of asbestos cementinto articles of complex configuration, comprising A. a horizontal,rigid tubular housing including end Walls having substantially centrallylocated openings therein,

B. a slide having a length at least twice as large as the length of saidhousing and being slidable through said openings 4in the end walls ofthe housing so as to selectively dispose dierent portions of said slidewithin said tubular housing, f C. a mould carried by each of saidportions of the slide, each mould including (1) a rigid lower parthaving an upper surface conforming to the underside of an article to beshaped thereby, and (2) a removable, elastically yieldable solid upperpart extending over at least a section of said lower part to receive asheet `of asbestos cement therebetween when the related portion of saidslide is disposed outside of said housing, (3) said elasticallyyieldable upper part of the mould having a lower surface conforming -to4the conguration of the corresponding part of an article to be shaped bythe mould, D. an inatable body iiXed within said housing above saidslide, and E. means for supplying tluid under pressure to said ybody soas to inilate the latter and thereby cause the body to press saidelastically yieldable upper part of the mould within said housingagainst the d related rigid lower part for compressing and shaping thesheet of asbestos cement therebetween into the form of a desiredarticle.

2. A-n apparatus as in claim 1; wherein said slide has blocks thereon atthe opposite ends of each of said portions, which .blocks are shaped toclose said openings in the end walls of the housing when the relatedportion of the slide is fully disposed within the housing, thereby toavoid extrusion of said body through said openings upon ination `of thebody.

3. An apparatus as in claim 1; wherein the upper surface of saidyieldable upper part of each mould is at and the corresponding area ofthe lower surface of said inflatable body is also flat.

4. An apparatus as in claim 1; wherein said housing has 'a perforatedtable extending horizontally therein to slidably support said slide, andsaid slide and said rigid lower part of each mould also haveperforations to permit liquid to drain therethrough during thecompressing .of a sheet of asbestos cement in each mould.

5. An apparatus as in claim l; wherein said yieldable upper part `ofeach mould extends over only a section of the related rigid lower partand 'has a flat upper surface; and wherein the lower surface `of saidinatable bo-dy'has a at section coextensive with said flat upper surfaceof the yieldable upper part of each mould and a contoured sectioncorresponding in shape to that of the section of said rigid lower partextending beyond said yieldable upper part.

6. An apparatus as in claim 1; further comprising hydraulicallyyoperated means for longitudinally reciprocating said slide so as toalternately dispose said portions of `the slide Within said housing andoutside of the latter.

References Cited in the tile of this patent l UNITED STATES PATENTS1,209,308 La-nhoier Dec. 19, 19:16 2,048,253 Freyssinet July 21, 19362,730,783 Kennison Jan. 17, 1956 2,856,667 Gorsuch Oct. 211, 19582,865,079 Marchioli et al. Dec. 23, 1958 2,975,476 Burke Mar. 21, 1961

1. AN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING AND COMPRESSING SHEETS OF ABSESTOS CEMENTINTO ARTICLES OF COMPLEX CONFIGURATION, COMPRISING A. A HORIZONTAL,RIGID TUBULAR HOUSING INCLUDING END WALLS HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY CENTRALLYLOCATED OPENINGS THEREIN, B. A SLIDE HAVING A LENGTH AT LEAST TWICE ASLARGE AS THE LENGTH OF SAID HOUSING AND BEING SLIDABLE THROUGH SAIDOPENINGS IN THE END WALLS OF THE HOUSING SO AS TO SELECTIVELY DISPOSEDIFFERENT PORTIONS OF SAID SLIDE WITHIN SAID TUBULAR HOUSING, C. A MOULDCARRIED BY EACH OF SAID PORTIONS OF THE SLIDE, EACH MOULD INCLUDING (1)A RIGID LOWER PART HAVING AN UPPER SURFACE CONFORMING TO THE UNDERSIDEOF AN ARTICLE TO BE SHAPED THEREBY, AND (2) A REMOVABLE, ELASTICALLYYIELDABLE SOLID UPPER PART EXTENDING OVER AT LEAST A SECTION OF SAIDLOWER PART TO RECEIVE A SHEET OF ASBESTOS CEMENT THEREBETWEEN WHEN THERELATED PORTION OF SAID SLIDE IS DISPOSED OUTSIDE OF SAID HOUSING(3)SAID ELASTICALLY YIELDABLE UPPER PART OF THE MOULD HAVING A LOWERSURFACE CONFROMING TO THE CONFIGURATION OF THE CORRESPONDING PART OF ANARTICLE TO BE SHAPED BY THE MOULD D. AN INFLATABLE BODY FIXED WITHINSAID HOUSING ABOVE SAID SLIDE, AND E. MEANS FOR SUPPLYING FLUID UNDERPRESSURE TO SAID BODY MEANS SO AS TO INFLATE THE LATTER AND THEREBYCAUSE THE BODY TO PRESS SAID ELASTICALLY YIELDABLE UPPER PART OF THEMOULD WITHIN SAID HOUSING AGAINST THE RELATED RIGID LOWER PART FORCOMPRESSING AND SHAPING THE SHEET OF ASBESTOS CEMENT THEREBETWEEN INTOTHE FORM OF A DESIRED ARTICLE.